What You Need to Know About the Stress Hormone Cortisol

Here's the conventional rap on cortisol, the so-called stress hormone: Your body is like a slingshot that flings the stuff out whenever you feel threatened. But since our fight-or-flight hardwiring can't tell the difference between a real threat (saber-toothed tiger) and one that just seems like it'll kill you (your 70-hour work week), long-lasting stress keeps your body churning it out. Too much cortisol has been linked to weight gain, depression, and high blood pressure. Nobody likes that.

But recent research shows that, ironically, unrelenting stress can cause the slingshot to poop out, leaving you with too little of the hormone -- and energy levels to match. Studies have linked low cortisol to chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia (a condition characterized by muscle pain and fatigue), though even healthy women can be affected. A study of 195 young women found that those with low morning cortisol levels were more likely to feel tired.

New research on cortisol supplements offers hope for healthy but sleepy women. When Mattie Tops, Ph.D., of the University of Leiden in the Netherlands, gave 27 Dutch women a 35 milligram cortisol supplement -- the average amount a healthy person produces every day -- they had more vigor than when they took a placebo. Supplements probably aren't the answer just yet, though. "Cortisol inhibits the immune system," Tops says, "so you really have to know if low cortisol is to blame."

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